Thank you, Madam Chair. [ Interruption. ] Apologies, Dame Rosie, it is hard to remember all the different protocols, but I hope I can make up for it in making a short contribution. I put on record a number of concerns. I recognise that amendment 1, which we tabled to address the concerns directly, has not been selected, so let me speak in support of amendments 6 and 8 from my colleagues, as well as new clause 2. I think they all get at the same point, which is why it matters to have scrutiny.
Members in this Chamber who know of my interests in human rights in Northern Ireland might expect me to come at this issue from the question of what is happening with the delivery of abortion services in Northern Ireland. For several years now, that has been done by the Government, rather than the devolved Assembly overseeing it, because of the challenges within Northern Ireland. That powerfully makes the case, for example, for using the Fiscal Council or consulting the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, which has been a diligent and doughty defender of the rights of women in Northern Ireland to equal access to abortion.
However, I want to talk about the points that my amendment raised about the use by this Government of the powers in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, knowing that right now something very different is happening to that legislation, which nobody is clear about, as the Government are yet again hiding
from scrutiny on it. That is not a new concern when it comes to Northern Ireland, because for months now we have been asking the Government to come clean about how they intend to use the powers in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill in Northern Ireland. So far as I am aware, with today’s announcement there is no change to how that Bill approaches devolution, so let us be clear that it gives the Secretary of State, in proxy of the devolved Administration, the power to decide when the sunset clause that was in the legislation, which I think has now been removed, would kick in, and to replace, restate or revoke legislation. Those are serious powers over how thousands of regulations would be interpreted in Northern Ireland. In the absence of a sitting Assembly, those powers are falling to this Government and a Minister who cannot even be bothered to respect the issue, listen or engage with what is being said. That, again, tells us something about how seriously they take these powers. I digress, but I am sure that whatever I am saying about how he treats the employment rights of people in Northern Ireland is not as important as what he is talking to his Parliamentary Private Secretary about.
As ever with Northern Ireland and devolution, these are complicated issues. They are complicated in two different ways—first in the EU regulations that may or may not be at stake, and also in north-south co-operation, and the restrictions and requirements that are made in order to have convergence. Let me say a little, if I can, to resolve why those complications may happen, and therefore why amendments on the role of the Fiscal Council or the Human Rights Commission—or, indeed, about the ability to take evidence on, frankly, what the Government are doing on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland on this issue—matter.
This issue covers devolved competencies of things such as employment skills, pensions and child support, and environmental laws such as planning and equal opportunities. Northern Ireland Members will no doubt be as shocked as I was to discover that this Government were planning to delete, without any public consultation, people’s right to a basic protection that originally came through EU regulation, which was that if their company went bust, they would be entitled to at least 50% of their pension pot. Rules on pensions are devolved competencies, but the Government announced in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill Committee that they will revoke at the end of this year the EU regulation holding businesses to account which makes sure that people have at least some basic protection. I do not know the status of that now, but it is a good example of the sort of legislation we would be talking about.
Obviously, Members who have huge experience of devolution would point out to me that when the UK left the European Union, the UK and the EU agreed the protocol—if I can dare to mention that word—which talked about maintaining the necessary conditions for north-south co-operation and protected the 1998 Good Friday agreement. In doing so, Northern Ireland stayed dynamically aligned over many of these areas of legislation, and the Minister may therefore say that this is not an issue to be concerned about and that it does not need this level of scrutiny, because these issues are covered by
the protocol. However, Queen’s University Belfast is very clear that about 300 areas of EU regulation are not covered by the protocol, and therefore would be automatically deleted by the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill. They would cover many of these issues, and there is also the issue about direct effect cases, which is where the judgment about protecting people’s pension pot comes from.
The 142 areas of co-operation identified in 2017 as being underpinned by EU policy frameworks and north-south co-operation are the areas up for grabs. Indeed, there is ongoing co-operation in 61 areas. Let me give some examples of the sorts of EU laws that we would be talking about. There is the single-use plastics directive, the regulation on clinical trials of medicinal products for human use, directives about medicines, directives about organisation in agricultural markets—I know that is a deep concern for many of my colleagues representing constituencies in Northern Ireland—and EU Acts on the regulation of energy and electricity markets. This is not small fry when we add it all together.
The point of the amendment I tabled and of the questions we have been asking the Government is how, in the absence of Stormont to scrutinise, these devolved competencies may be used, given the potential impact of changing these regulations in undermining the Windsor framework and therefore changing the alignment on which many of these deals have been done. Those are not my words, but concerns raised by the European Union. The fact is that the Government have consistently tried to avoid even answering the question. They have suggested that the Stormont brake would apply, but it does not, because this is about existing legislation—not new legislation, but existing legislation. People currently have the right to have their pension pot protected, but we still do not know quite what will happen to that pension pot protection at the end of this year for anybody in the United Kingdom. However, certainly in Northern Ireland, where the competency of the devolved authority would be expected to be a part of it, the lack of clarity about how the Government are proceeding on this is deeply troubling, especially when we are entering into another process of having to bring in these interim arrangements, so there is even less scrutiny of how they are using those powers.
I have asked through freedom of information requests for information about the kinds of meetings the Government are having, because they have told us in answer to a written question:
“UK Government Officials have been proactively engaging with their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Civil Service on the progress of the Bill”.
What that means in layman’s terms is that some decisions must have been made about how to use those competencies, and we know that these interim arrangements will exactly cover the period during which those decisions are being made. Now, add into the chaos the announcement that the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill will be changed and we have a recipe for people in Northern Ireland with nobody having an eye on the ball when it comes to their basic rights, because the Government will not be clear or be scrutinised about those conversations and which devolved competences they may use to amend those rights.
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I hope that the Minister can understand why many of us have concerns about the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill—not least about it destabilising the Windsor agreement by removing those levels of alignment—and think that the principle of accountability and scrutiny matters. For many years, he told us that Brexit was about taking back control, but time and again we have seen that the Government do not mean taking back control to democratic institutions; they do not mean taking back control to Parliament. After all, as far as I am aware, nothing in the new retained EU law Bill proposals would change that fundamental transfer of power from the Executive back to Parliament. Therefore, even if the sunset clause has gone, those powers would still be for the UK Government, not for the UK Parliament; the UK Parliament where Northern Ireland Members would be part of conversations and could even have a say on statutory instruments and various regulations—what little say there would be. This is solely about Ministers using their ministerial powers on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland, with no accountability at all, and without even being honest about having the powers and the areas that will be affected. Removing the sunset clause does nothing to the fundamental challenge, especially if we are continuing to bring in legislation, which we absolutely need, to keep the Northern Ireland civil service functioning.
In simple terms, these amendments speak to the simple question: what is the Minister doing on behalf of the Northern Ireland people when it comes to their basic rights? The Bill also covers things such as people’s employment rights and whether people in Northern Ireland will still be entitled to maternity leave, environmental protections and consumer compensation—everyday rights that people across the United Kingdom have particularly relied on. However, in Northern Ireland, the question of alignment and changing alignment takes on an added complexity and added damage. It could undermine the Windsor agreement, and it could mean that people in Northern Ireland have fewer rights than those in the rest of the United Kingdom. Above all, if we continue to be unable to get Stormont back up and running, that could mean Government Ministers in back rooms with civil servants making decisions without any accountability to elected representatives in Northern Ireland or any commitment to any accountability.
I hope that the Minister will at least accept that there is a problem because the powers will be operational now—during the passage of the Bill. I hope that he will commit to coming back to the House and talking to representatives from Northern Ireland—if no one else—about how they are using and interpreting their devolved competences when it comes to retained EU law, as it sounds like the retained EU law Bill will continue on.
The Minister said that his comments about Northern Ireland having a special relationship with the European Union were a slip of the tongue. Well, some of us want all of the United Kingdom to have a special relationship with the European Union so that, now that we have left the European Union, we can all trade and still have those opportunities. But if changes are not to be made in Northern Ireland, why should they be made in the rest of the United Kingdom?
The retained EU law Bill is a power grab—Members in Northern Ireland know how much the Government enjoy that—and, at every single opportunity, those of us who are the true patriots and the true democrats need to wrest it back and challenge the Government on how they will exercise it. The amendments would do exactly that. I hope that the Minister will look on them with kindness.